So, last night, Adrian and I were having a little conversation before drifting off to sleep. He was saying how sad it is that many people can be so materialistic. We both agreed that we were each a bit materialistic too, though perhaps not as bad as some (though, maybe "ranking" shouldn't even matter).
Now, I know if I was a perfectly spiritual person, I'd be perfectly content to fast all the time, continually wear sack-cloth and ashes, live in a grass hut, and never give a second thought to all that I might be missing out on. However, I'm not really like that. I still like convenient comforts, and furthermore I am totally enamored with certain physical things such as clothes, flowers, fish and Luna.
Adrian said those things weren't so bad, because after all, I enjoyed them myself - I wasn't merely trying to impress others. I don't know if I agree with his rationalization. Whether I am trying to impress anyone else or not, these are still physical, material things. I agree that it's more of a tragedy to be a materialist for the sake of impressing others, and not derive any actual enjoyment from it. But, it's still being a materialist, nevertheless. As a matter of fact, since my materialism is only for my own enjoyment, you could say that my materialism is more selfish than others.
I gravitate towards the rationalization that many of the things I like are natural; ie God-made rather than people made. What's wrong with enjoying God's creations? Isn't that part of why he created them? I remember in one CS Lewis book (I'm thinking it was either Miracles or Mere Christianity), he made the point that God is not vague, spiritual, thing. He created the whole physical universe, and he gave us lots of physical laws (don't steal, don't commit adulterly, don't eat pork, etc), and even came down physically himself, to be physically born and to physically die (though, through dying, you could say that he cast aside physical things). But, if God doesn't care about physical things, why did he create so many of them? Anyway, I'm not sure that something being natural is much of an excuse for being obsessed with it. Many things that are natural, such as food, alcohol, sex, fire, etc, can be abused. For that matter, hemlock juice is natural! Even DHMO is natural ;)
So - I guess I'm still confused. What is materialism? Is there a difference between "good" materialism and "bad" materialism? Is God a materialist? Hmmm...
Original MySpace Comment:
ReplyDeleteRachel
ha! wow! we were just kinda talking about this today in greek mythology!
here's the Greek view point.
good materialism vs bad materialism falls under the same catagory as good strife and bad strife (at least in the greek god world). strife was released by pandora when she opened the box of nasty things she was SUPPOSED to give to her husband to guard.
luckily, zues took pity on her because she was the first woman and supposedly didn't know any better. so he made TWO kinds of strife. good strife (Eris) causes natural healthy rivalry that makes people get things done and strive to become better beings. under this falls GOOD materialism and enjoying the things that come natuarally to humans and that come to you from the fruits of Eris.
BAD strife (don;t remember the patron God's name...) is just men killing/fighting each other for the sake of making trouble, satisfying their own lusts/desires and generally looking out for number one. bad materialism (i.e. coveting, greed and stealing) falls in that catagory.
here's where it kinda didn't make sense for me cause isn't good strife still self motivated and based on selfish things? the best my teacher could come up with is that "yes, they are both selfish desires, but one is healthy and builds up and makes you enjoy life, where as the other is evil and causes distructiopn."
so, there ya have it. don't know if that helps any, but at least you can brag that you know the ancient greeks oppinion on things! :-P
4 years ago